Katie Spivakovsky, currently wrapping up her senior year at MIT, recently stepped into the limelight after being awarded the 2026-27 Churchill Scholarship – quite a prestigious recognition. Coming this fall, she’s set to cross the Atlantic and join the Wellcome Sanger Institute, an esteemed research center at Cambridge University, where she’ll chase an MPhil in biological sciences; a testament to her ever-growing academic prowess.
Spivakovsky wears multiple academic hats with eases, juggling a double major in biological engineering and artificial intelligence, and further bolstered by minors in mathematics and biology. This unique intersect of studies befits her ambition: to amalgamate computational methods and bioengineering to spur state-of-the-art, scalable healthcare innovations. Her endgame? To spearhead academic research that fosters equal health privileges across diverse populations.
Her time at MIT isn’t confined to textbooks and lectures. She’s an active member of the Bathe BioNanoLab where she delves into pioneering therapeutic applications of DNA origami and DNA-scaffolded nanoparticles for gene and mRNA delivery. This isn’t a fruitless endeavor either, as she has already co-authored a manuscript expected to make waves at Science.
Spivakovsky also spearheads a student team eager to establish an immune therapy for cancer cachexia, courtesy of MIT’s BioMakerSpace. Their collaborative effort bore silver victors at the international synthetic biology competition iGEM, and their findings were subsequently documented in the MIT Undergraduate Research Journal.
Her leadership and passion for sharing knowledge are equally praiseworthy. Spivakovsky serves as the director of the Undergraduate Initiative in the MIT Biotech Group with a clear lean towards mentoring fellow students. She’s played roles in various pedagogical capacities, such as lecturer and co-director for class 6.S095 (Probability Problem Solving), teaching assistant for 20.309 (Bioinstrumentation) and 20.A06 (Hands-on Making in Biological Engineering), and even worked as a lab assistant for 6.300 (Signal Processing) while functioning as an associate advisor.
The Churchill Scholarship is no ordinary accolade. Borne out of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s vision for US-UK scientific collaboration, it’s one of the most fiercely contended fellowships in the United States. The scholarship opens doors for a limited number of American students every year, enabling them funding-wise to pursue a graduate degree in science, mathematics, or engineering at Churchill College, Cambridge.
“Katie is a brilliant researcher with a sharp intellectual appetite that will cement her place as a future leader in biological engineering,” affirms Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships at MIT. “We are proud to see her represent MIT at Cambridge University.” If any MIT students are interested in following in Spivakovsky’s footsteps, they can connect with Kim Benard at MIT Career Advising and Professional Development for guidance and support through the application process.
This website uses cookies.